


These Boys

by Chance13



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Except for the Audio Engineering, Fluff, Getting Together, Multi, Pretty much all of this is based off of real life, That's just bs, There's other relationships but they're all background, Yeah I'm still naming fics after Adam Lambert songs fight me, just so much fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 19:12:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8812825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chance13/pseuds/Chance13
Summary: Remus, Frank and Alice are moving cross-country to start university. Alright, so it's a couple hours drive and they'll probably see their parents at least once a month, but it's a big deal, okay? They'll have weird flat mates, late nights, later mornings, and maybe even the occasional lecture. The only slight problem is the Big Project Remus has to do for AE club - luck thing Lily knows some guys in a band, and one the just happens to be incredibly cute. Things may have just got a lot more complicated.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Rollerskate](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4049143) by [biremus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/biremus/pseuds/biremus). 
  * Inspired by [Text Talk](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1651109) by [merlywhirls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/merlywhirls/pseuds/merlywhirls). 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is mostly inspired by Rollerskate by Poorlilgayremus, and also low key Text Talks by Merlywhirls. I don't have a beta-reader and this is the first time I've written since high school, so if I've made any mistakes just let me know. Anyways, hope you enjoy x
> 
> (Remus is italics, Frank is underlined)

Remus tugged at the sleeve of oversized jumper, which he had somehow managed to get caught in the zip of his duffel bag, while Lyall took his last box of belongings down to the car. He tugged his sleeve free and looked around his bedroom of the last eighteen years, now stripped bare apart from a few lone books and stray items of clothing.

 

“Honey, if we don’t leave now the traffic’s going to be awful,” Hope called from the down the stairs as his dad quickly slammed the car boot shut, trapping all of Remus’ belongings in the back.

 

Remus wandered out to the car, chucking his bag onto the back seat next to him and manoeuvred into his seat, doing his seatbelt with his one arm, pulling his phone out to text Frank with the other. His mum started the car and reversed out the drive as Greg James’ voice floated quietly out of the radio.

 

(10:42) _We’re just leaving now wbu?_

  
(10:44)  Fuck, no mate, I totally overslept

(10:44) _There’s a surprise_

(10:45) _Aren’t you meant to be getting Alice? She’s going to kill you_

(10:46) Like she expects any better by now :P

(10:46) Soz to abandon you but I’ve not finished packing yet so..

(10:47) _K see you in the adult world_

(10:48) Don’t remind me, mum was out getting me student recipe books yesterday

 

(10:53) The fuck, there’s a sock in my toilet bag??

*****

 

One hour and many texts later and the family were parked opposite Remus’ new halls. The brown seventies façade wasn’t particularly inspiring, but it was the cheapest halls available so it wasn’t like he had much choice matter. Remus dragged his duffel off the back seat and grabbed a backpack out the boot, following the signposts to the accommodations office. He found it under the currently-shut students’ bar, and he collected his flat key along with a pile of leaflets that the woman had insisted were ‘absolutely essential for every fresher’, which really just looked like flyers for clubs he’d rather die than go to. At least they’d make good bookmarks.

 

A few minutes later and Remus had found his flat – D2/1 – and was attempting to unlock the front door whilst balancing his duffel and backpack, and failing miserably. Just as he managed to get the lock his backpack slipped, knocking the duffel off his shoulder, which in turn sent him toppling into the wall beside him, flailing madly.

 

“Did you even consider putting down the bags before opening the door?” a voice above him drawled. Remus twisted his head slightly to see the speaker from beneath his pile of bags. Above him stood a tall, pale teen with black hair scraped back into a ponytail. The boy rolled his eyes and grabbed Remus’ forearm, helping him back to his feet.

 

“Thanks. Yeah, probably should’ve; I’ve never been the most graceful,” the two stood in awkward silence for a few moments “So, uh, you’re one of my flat mates I guess?”

 

“Yes, and if you don’t mind, while this is a fantastic corridor, I’d actually like to see this hellhole we’ll be trapped in for the next year,” the boy replied, gesturing to the door wedged open by the fallen backpack, which Remus was now blocking.

 

“Oh, right, sorry.” Remus grabbed his fallen bags and stepped into the meltingly hot flat. The hall way was windowless, only lit by the frosted glass in the front door. Remus felt across the wall for a light switch and soon two bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling were illuminating the hall. The floor was covered with dark blue industrial carpeting and the walls, which were a hideous shade of lilac, were lined with matching blue fire doors. Remus held the door so the boy behind could enter and wandered down the long corridor until he found room five. Fumbling with his keys again – this time with his bags on the floor – he unlocked the heavy door and set eyes on his home for the next year.

 

The door hit a narrow wardrobe as the door swung open, causing it shake worryingly. Opposite it there was a small bed over a heating pipe, with a thin mattress on top, which has some dubious yellow stains on it, and two wobbly drawers underneath. Instead of a side table there was a desk across from the bed with a few bracket shelves above it. The whole room was amazingly drab with thin grey carpets and pale green walls with black damp speckles near the window. Remus dropped his bags in the small amount floor space and went to open the small square window, letting in a much-needed gush of cool autumn air. He could already tell that he couldn’t wear his homely oversized jumpers for risk of heat stroke and sadly dragged his jumper over his head, dropping it over the back of his desk chair. He gave the mattress a dubious look and decided to flip it over, regretting it instantly. On the other side of the mattress was the sweaty yellow outline of the dozens of boys who’d used the bed before him. He steeled himself and flipped it back just as the flat buzzer rang through the flat.

 

A few minutes later and Remus’ parents had brought he rest of his belongings from the car and had had a brief teary goodbye in the privacy of his room. Remus wedged his door open with a doorstop he found in a desk drawer, dug out his laptop and speaker and began unpacking.

 

*****

 

Remus collapsed on his bed in exhaustion as another Spotify ad played from his speakers. He had finally finished unpacking and his room was looking a bit more homely; good luck cards and photos from home were blu-tacked above his desk, the shelves were filled with textbooks and novels and his large map of _Ankh Morpork_ managed to cheer up the room and cover most of the odd black marks. His phone buzzed across the desk and he leaned over to check the text.

 

(14:27) Mate, get your ass to the kitchen, we’re ordering pizza - I don’t want them thinking I’m getting weird shit with fruit on it

 

Remus rolled off the bed and stuck his door on the latch before padding down to the kitchen.

 

There were five guys in their flat and five of them were already in the kitchen-dining-living room arguing over an online pizza menu. Frank looked up from the discussion and grinned as Remus shuffled in awkwardly.

 

“Alright mate, Italian pineapple and mushroom, yeah?”

 

Remus nodded his thanks and grabbed on one of the remaining breakfast bar stools. Introductions were done and they all started chatting before Remus noticed the abrasive guy from earlier wasn’t there – ‘we knocked on his door earlier but there was no answer’ – so Remus went to knock on the room opposite his – the only one with a shut door.

 

“Here mate, everyone else’s ordering pizza, wanna come chose something?” he called through the door. Silence. “If you don’t I’ll probably end up answering the door and I can’t see me managing that fire door holding a stack of pizzas.”

 

There was a bit of shuffling from behind the door before it opened enough to reveal the mysterious teenager leaning on the wall, propping the door open on his knee.

 

“You’ll probably drop the lot and cover the walls in cheese,” he deadpanned. Remus stepped out the way so he could leave, gesturing towards the living room, and the boy exited, locking the room behind him.

 

“I’m Remus Lupin, by the way,” he said, offering his hand to the boy.

 

“Severus Snape,” he replied, shaking it firmly, “Let’s get this food then before you some how destroy our flat,” he groused, but Remus caught the small quirk of his eyebrow and laughed at the joke, accepting the heavily disguised olive branch.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, friendship and bondingness

A shrill whistle sounded through Remus’ room and he blinked blurrily in the early morning sunlight that was filtering through the thin curtain. He attempted to get out of bed but toppled to the hard floor as his legs got caught up in the sheets, which had ended up pushed down around his waist at some point in the night.

 

A week after moving in and Remus’ room was showing the results of the fresher’s week, which had finished the previous day; a bright freebie calendar was stuck to the wall, as were a dozen event flyers, including the one for the audio engineering club he’d signed up to with Frank, a foam hand was lain on the floor, and a blue frisbee was sat on his desk next to a single shot glass.

 

Once properly upright and de-tangled Remus had a lightning fast shower, and found some clean jeans and a jumper before padding towards the kitchen for some much needed morning coffee. As he entered the kitchen he found he wasn’t the only up so ridiculously early – really, who thought 9am lectures were a good idea? - Snape was sat at the small breakfast bar sipping a cup of tea and glaring at his phone.

 

“Not a morning person either, huh?”

 

Snape looked up from his phone just long enough to point his glare at Remus before flicking his eyes back down to the screen.

 

“Alright then,” Remus said bemusedly before continuing to make his breakfast. A few minutes later he was ready and went to grab his satchel from his room. Just as he was locking his room up he noticed Snape doing the same thing.

 

“Hey there sunshine, I’m headed over to the business building, you?”

 

“I’ve got some introductory thing in the new engineering building,” Snape replied, obviously hating having to be up so early for what wasn’t even a real class, “I just need to go for my timetable.”

 

“Wow sucks. They’re the same way, want to walk?”

 

Snape sighed heavily, “If you insist.”

  
  
“What is you’re studying anyway?” Remus asked, desperate for any conversation topic.

 

“Chemistry; it’s a family tradition. You?”

 

“Sounds cool – I did a bit in high school, but I could never get my head round it. I’m doing English and Law.”

  
  
“Maybe you’re not quite as idiotic as you look.”

 

*****

 

The lecture had been brief – just like Snape’s it was an introductory class, mostly outlining the course and finalising tutorial groups, which they had split into soon after. Remus had found most of the other members rather unimpressive; while he could understand the desire to enjoy summer instead of doing set reading, the majority of them seem to only be studying law to seem employable or had seen Legally Blonde once and thought it would be a laugh.

 

However, one girl, Lily, had seemed just as enthused about the subject as Remus, and he was glad there would be at least one other person in his tutorials that he could talk to. He had managed to catch her at the end of class and a short chat about one of their textbooks had quickly branched out into their latest Waterstones purchases, which had somehow led to them sitting in the Union’s Starbucks debating the last season of Bake Off – while he obviously loved Candice, it was quite hard to top Selasi, and not just because he thought he was cute. The two got so caught up in their chat they almost missed their next class, and ended up racing down the six flights of stairs out of the Union instead of waiting for the interminably slow lift.

 

*****

 

That evening was the first meeting of the Audio Engineering club, which Remus was hoping would be like the one at the high school he, Frank and Alice had attended back in Edinburgh. As he had been studying music at the time Frank had obviously been better at it, but Remus had still enjoyed editing the music and layering sounds together, creating something entirely new. However the problem right now wasn’t Remus’ skills at audio engineering so much as the fact that Frank was still hungover from Fresher’s Week and refusing to move from his bed, meaning he was going to have to attend the first meeting, where he would know absolutely nobody, all on his own.

 

After having a calming cup of tea, making sure his sweater sleeves were stretched enough that he could fiddle with his cuffs and packing some emergency chocolate into his satchel, Remus was ready to go to the meeting.

 

All of this preparation meant by the time he got to Livi Tower he was late for the meeting, and when Remus arrived everyone was already sat on wheelie chairs in a messy circle. He found a spare seat and pulled it over to near sit near a short, slightly rounded boy with dirty blond hair. Just moments after he arrived the President had finished her introductory speech and the group dispersed, rolling away to their computers. Unsure of what to do Remus slid his chair to the computer next to the blond boy’s.

 

“Hey, I got in a bit late, any idea what’re we actually meant to be doing?”

 

“Sorry mate, I only just got in before you – I was just going to click about on the screen a bit whenever someone looked over so they wouldn’t notice,” the boy replied sheepishly.

 

Remus weighed his options – he could waist an hour of his free time or he could go up and ask the club president in front the entire club. He pulled out a memory stick from his bag and opened up an old half-finished project so it would look like he was being slightly productive.

 

He fiddled with the mouse a bit before looking at the other boy, who had produced a packet of flying saucers that he was munching on as he scrolled through Facebook.

 

“I’ll swap you some Galaxy for a couple flying saucers,” he proffered a bit of his chocolate stash to the boy.

 

“Sure,” he handed him the sweets and took a few squares of chocolate, “I’m Peter by the way, I’m doing Computer Science. You?”

 

“Remus, English and Law,”

 

“Eugh, I could never have with all that reading. How do you even manage?”

 

“It’s not really that bad so far – I already read a lot anyway. I don’t think I could cope with having to program though; it looks way too complicated, you’re basically learning another language,” Remus glanced up at Peter’s computer screen. “Awesome, you watch Doctor Who?”

 

“Obviously,” Peter smiled back, “Don’t even get me started on the last season though.”

 

*****

 

Remus was going to drop his bag in his room before making dinner when he noticed Frank’s door was unlocked. He dropped his bag by his door and shoved the heavy door open, pulling down on the light cord.

 

“Wow, these light sure are bright, huh Frank?” he grinned mischievously at his friend who was using his pillow to block out the light. “It sure would be a shame if someone happened to trip and open the curtains,” he continued, flinging himself dramatically across the small room into the desk chair, sliding the curtain open.

 

“Remus, if you could kindly fuck off, that’d be great,” Frank mumbled from beneath the pillow.  
  
“Hmm,” he pretended to think for a moment, “Well you did leave me to go to the club meeting alone so I’m going to go with… no.”

 

“I swear to god, if you don’t leave me to hang in peace next time I throw up it’ll be in your room.”

 

“Fine have it your way. You missed out though, there was a guy Peter there into the same nerdy shit as you, you’d totally get on great.”  
  
“I’ll bear that in mind, now _leave_ ,” The last word was punctuated with the pillow being thrown haphazardly at Remus’ head, who ducked below the projectile, and left to go make dinner.

 

Most of his other flat mates were out at society meetings and the like, which left him with free reign of both the kitchen and the music choice. This is how Snape found him ten minutes later, methodically stirring his pasta and bobbing his head to the beat.

 

“Don’t tell you’re actually listening to Troye Sivan,” Snape raised his eyebrow, in what Remus was quickly learning to be one of signature mannerisms, in judgement of the music.

 

“So what if I am? And if he sucks so much how’d you know the song so quickly?” Remus threw back, enjoying the weird argumentative friendship they seemed to be slowly establishing.

 

“I don’t live in a basement somewhere, I listen to the radio,” Snape snarked back.

 

“Good try, but this song’s three years old. Looks like we’ve got ourselves a closet Troyeblemaker,” he replied in a sing-song voice.

 

“I know where you sleep Lupin, don’t forget that.”

  
  
“Yeah yeah, what’s your favourite of his?”

 

“…Gasoline.”

  
  
“That’s the spirit,” Remus laughed, “I’m almost done with cooking, you can stick another song on if you want.”

  
  
Severus settled down on one of the breakfast stools and began to scroll through Remus’ music library.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My uni actually does Chem labs in the Engineering building and the year before I started they ended up accidentally burning the building down. Took three years to re-build, and now they're having Chem labs in there again, 'cause who needs to learn from mistakes


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Remus is still italics, Sirius is bold)

Remus lay flopped on his bed while Lily swung side to side on his desk chair. It was a month into the year and open textbooks were strewn around them; they had been quizzing each other for their Criminal Law class test, but after a few hours their study session had devolved into more of a hang-out. Lily sipped on her cup of tea as her shuffled music played in the background.

 

“You didn’t strike me as the type to listen to Skrillex,” Remus commented.

 

“I’m really not,” she laughed, “They just played this in high school so much it ended up getting ingrained in my head. And it reminds me of a friend I guess. Oh, that’s a thought,” she span round in the seat and started typing furiously on Remus’ laptop, “You guys needed someone to record for that Audio Engineering thing, right? My friends – well annoying acquaintances – have this band. They don’t do many gigs or anything, mostly just stuff on YouTube, but you could so record them for it.”  
  
She spun back round, sliding the laptop onto the bed, which was now open on a video of said band. There were two guys in the video; one was Indian with round glasses and a haystack of hair, and was singing whilst playing the keyboard, while the second, a boy with long wavy black hair, was on the electric guitar.

 

“Sirius - the one on the guitar - is such a drama queen, I’m sure he’ll love the chance to be recorded.”

 

Remus watched the boy picking out the clear notes on the guitar, the careless grace he held himself with and the way he tossed his hair when it slipped too far into his eyes. He had a furrow of concentration on his brow that appeared half way through the song and was tapping his leg so the two could follow the rhythm. There was a brief moment of silence as the song finished before the boy threw back his head with a laugh and high-fived the keyboard player.

 

“They’re pretty good right,” Lily said, jerking Remus out of his stupor, smiling knowingly at his enraptured expression, “Never tell Potter I said that though, the last thing that boy needs is encouragement,” she laughed minimising the video, “Oh god is that the time, I promised Marls I’d help her with her Psychology survey. See you tomorrow, yeah?”

 

“Like I’m going to go missing lectures,” Remus joked as he sorted out their textbooks, scooping her’s into his arms. He grabbed the door with his free arm handing the books to Lily just as Severus left the kitchen.

 

“Hi Sev,” Lily smiled cheerily to him as she passed before sweeping out the front door.

 

Remus watched Severus face as she left, wearing the same knowing smile Lily had had just moments earlier.

 

“She and her girlfriend Mary ended it a couple months ago ‘cause she was moving to Manchester – she’s completely available and also very bi. Good luck mate,” Remus clapped the gapping boy on the shoulder before returning to his room.

 

*****

 

Two days later as Remus was putting the finishing touches to an essay on _Twelfth Night_ as his phone vibrated loudly on his wooden desk, almost causing him to fall out his chair.

 

(20:13) **Hey, this is Sirius, Lils gave me your number. Apparently we’re famous enough people are clamouring to record us?**

(20:14) _Yeah, had to fight out a lot of people to get Lily to talk to you_

(20:14) _I’m Remus btw_

(20:15) **Charmed to meet you**

(20:16) **What’s this mysterious project about then?**

(20:17) _Claire wants us to ‘stretch ourselves’ and edit real people’s stuff instead of random sounds we’ve put together ourselves_

(20:17) _She thinks just cause we can edit sounds we all must be musical and doesn’t believe any of us can have to musical talent of a dead fish_

****

(20:18) **Glad I could be your knight in shining armour**

(20:20) **Checked w/ James and we’re free tomorrow evening if you want to come over?**

(20:21) _I’ll text Pete but should be good_

 

(20:21) **Coolio 1A in James Young**

 

(20:22) _Coolio?_

 

(20:22) **Don’t judge my slang choice, coolio’s great**

 

(20:23) _Yeah for 14yo girls_

 

(20:24) **If this is the kind of sass I can expect I may just withdraw my oh so generous offer of recording our fabulousness**

 

(20:25) _Fine fine, coolio’s great and totally doesn’t make you sound like a tween princess_

(20:26) _Until tomorrow then, your majesty_

(20:26) **Tomorrow, my darling damsel in distress**

 

Just as he finished his chat with Sirius there came a knock at the door.

 

“Just a second,” he called, saving his essay, which the fates had obviously was not to be finished today, and went to open the door.

 

Standing in the hall was a slightly embarrassed Severus Snape, though Remus was finding it hard to tell as the boy had ducked his head in such a way that his long hair slipped over his face.

 

“Hey Severus, everything okay?”

 

“Yeah, I was just wondering, um,” He glanced down more as he fidgeted with the rough edge of a nail, “I was wondering if I could talk to you about something?”

 

“Sure, come on in,” Remus opened the door wide and went to sit on the edge of his bed while Severus positioned himself on the desk chair opposite. Remus waited patiently for Severus to gather his thoughts, watching as the pale boy played with a loose thread on his top, slowly unravelling the stitching.

 

“So you’re friends with Lily right? And she seems really amazing and she’ll probably never say yes, but you said I had a shot, and you’re her friend so I guess you’d know and-,” he stopped for a calming breath, “Sorry, I’m rambling. I was wondering if you could introduce me to her properly or something. I was going to add her on Facebook, but we’ve barely spoken and I didn’t want to seem like a creep or anything.”

 

“Severus, I would be honoured,” he grinned to him, “Are you doing anything Tuesday evening?” The boy shook his head negative. “Good. Alice, Frank’s girlfriend, is flatmate’s with Lily, me and him’re going over to their’s on Tuesday for a pizza night. If you come there’ll be eight of us, and you can meet her in a completely stress free environment. Half the time we just end up watching shit tv, so it won’t even matter if you can’t think of anything to say.”

 

Severus smiled at Remus, possibly the first time he’d ever seen the dour boy look so happy. “Thanks Remus, you’re a good sort.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not wanting Severus to be really ooc here, but the Severus in this story is very different from in canon; he's not had the marauders bullying him at school, he's not lost his best friend, he's not been through a war and lost everyone he's cared about, or had to spend years as a spy (I'm not trying to defend him, just my thought process for why he's like what he's like in this story).


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, it only took half the fic but they've actually met

“Wow.”

 

Remus and Peter were stood on the smooth stone path outside of the James Young halls. They were surrounded by bright green grass and decorative shrubbery, all much nicer than the yellowing muddy grass and industrial bins by Remus’ flat. Where Remus’ building was a dull beige and brown block, their’s was bright red brick and blue metal, with large rectangular windows, in some cases almost floor-to-ceiling, as opposed to the tiny squares in Birckbeck.

 

Peter buzzed the intercom for the flat then stood awkwardly by the silver panel, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

 

“Hello?” a male voice crackled out from the speaker, guitar music in the background adding to the distortion.

 

“Hi, I’m Peter. Me and Remus are here to see, eh, James and Sirius about the music thing?”

 

“Oh yeah, one sec mate.”

 

A loud buzz sounded out of the panel and Peter took that as his queue to pull the large glass door open. Remus and Peter were only a few steps into the hallway when they saw the singer and keyboardist from the video lounging against the open front door of the flat. He dragged his hand through his already messy hair and leaned forward to shake their hands, keeping the door open with one foot.

 

“Just come in, Sirius’s just finishing re-tuning his guitar for the third time. Living room’s first on the right, we reckoned that’d be easier than trying to fit us all in one of our bedrooms,” he explained, “Careful not to shut the door – back in Fresher’s Week Sirius swore he could do a backflip off it and we kinda lost the handle.”

 

Remus and Peter stepped through into the large bright room. In Remus’ opinion the videos hadn’t done Sirius justice. Standing in the centre of the room fiddling with a tuning key was one of the most beautiful men Remus had ever seen. His dark hair was tied into a messy bun, sharpening his features. His grey eyes were surrounded by smudged eyeliner and his mouth had the left over smears of lipstick on them. The neck of his loose tshirt had slipped just below his collarbone, revealing the tip of a tattoo. Remus watched Sirius position his left hand into a chord, his purple nail varnish glittering under the harsh lighting, and strummed a few times, each string singing out an identical note, before he played out a quick dramatic riff.

 

“Alright, quit showing off,” James groused as he entered, “Cuppa tea?” he called over his shoulder as he crossed to the cabinets lining the back of the room.

 

“Sounds great, love,” Sirius called back.

 

“I was talking to our guests, you prat,” he turned back to Remus and Peter, “Just ignore Sirius, I find that’s the best way to deal with him. Tea, yeah?”

 

“Oh how you wound me with your callousness,” Sirius swooned dramatically into Remus, almost hitting Peter with the neck of the guitar.

 

James rolled his eyes towards the ceiling, and leant over to hit Sirius upside the head.

 

*****

 

A few hours after the meeting James and Sirius were flopped head to toe on James’ bed, James leaning against the wall as Sirius had stolen the pillows to lie on. They had spent a good amount of time discussing ideas for the project with the other two boys before they had played a few old songs for them, as well as a couple they were still working on.

 

“Soooo?” James asked, drawing out the last syllable.

 

“So what?” Sirius replied as he braided a loose strand of hair across his face.

 

“Don’t play dumb, you like him,” James shot back, kicking him in the knee.

 

“No idea who you’re talking about,” Sirius kicked James in the shin.

 

“Remus you twat,” James kicked back harder, “Are you sure this is a fight you wanna start? We both know I’m stronger than you.”

 

“Whatever Mr. Health-Nut. Which one was Remus again?”

 

“The one with the curly brown hair and hipster beanie that you were showing off for and making eyes at the last two hours.”

 

“Oh _that_ Remus, why didn’t you just say so Jamie?” James gave Sirius a meaningful glare. “Okay, maybe I do, but just the teeniest tiniest bit,” James snort was quickly cut off with a swift kick to his already bruised knee, “but that doesn’t make any difference. We’ve got this project to do now, and that’s going to take weeks. And you know how I am with dating.”

 

It was true, James mused; Sirius was notoriously bad at picking boyfriends, the last three turning out to be massive assholes, the first using him to get back at his ex, the second cheating on him, and the third who believed that all gender norms should be followed as law. On the flip side all his girlfriends had actually quite nice, just completely unable to keep up with the high maintenance drama queen that was Sirius Black.

 

“We both know that you know a few bad experiences shouldn’t make you swear off guys for life, and like you said, we’re working with them for two months; you’ll be able to work out how much of a douche he is and go from there.”  
  
“When did you get all wise Prongs?” Sirius asked, peaking out from below the braid he’d made over his eyes.

 

“I’ll have you know I always have been, you’ve just been unappreciative of my amazingness,” he said crossing his arms and making a joke pout.

 

“Hey, I appreciate you loads, not many people could be as amazing a best friend as you are. At least, most of them wouldn’t let me copy all their tutorial answers,” Sirius stuck out his tongue a yelped as James pushed him off the bed before he also gave a startled cry as Sirius dragged him down with him, and soon the two were fighting on the floor next to his bed.

 

*****

 

Remus, Frank and Severus ascended the steps of the red brick building that was Alice’s Halls of Residence. Alice was already stood by the glass door to let them in – some idiot had broken the intercom system the previous day so everyone was having to text to get in. Frank gave her a quick peck on the cheek and she led the three up to the now-familiar third floor flat.

 

Remus, Frank and Alice had all grown up in the same town just outside Edinburgh and had known each other since primary school. Every week they would go to one of their homes and spend the evening eating junk food and watching movies. Remus had always preferred when they’d stayed at Alice’s as her house was right by the sea with a brilliant view of the Fourth Road Bridge, and he could sit on her windowsill watching the moonlight sparkle on the water when he couldn’t sleep. When the three of them had moved to Glasgow this tradition hadn’t died, but had grown to include Alice’s flatmates, who loved the two boys.

 

Alice pushed open the flat door, which was propped open on someone’s stiletto heel and ushered them into the livingroom-come-kitchen. As soon as they entered they were hit with a wall of sound; someone with a short black bob and a girl with long bleach blond hair were stood at the kitchen table arguing over various takeaway menus while their laptop blared out Taylor Swift, and another girl was yelling at contestants on Pointless while Lily wove her hair into a French plait, tugging her hair occasionally to keep her in place.

 

“Sorry,” Alice said to Severus, who looked rather shocked at the chaos, “I take it these idiots didn’t warn you how hectic it gets here?” she said, jerking her head to the other two boys, who at least had the decency to look slightly sheepish.

 

Lily snapped a band onto the end of the girl’s braid before crossing the room to the group, climbing over the back of a sofa to do so.

 

“Hey guys,” she greeted them cheerily, “Severus, I’m so glad you decided to come tonight. Don’t pay any attention to Marls and Dee, they’re just having a small domestic. They’ll have kissed, made up and have the food ordered in about five minutes.”

 

“Hey, I heard that,” the girl with a bleach blond hair shouted across the room, “And I don’t appreciate you being so blasé about our relationship. This could be a serious argument. You don’t know.”

 

“Marlene, yesterday you argued about the best way to stack dishes.”

 

“I’ve ordered us Chinese, it’ll be here in about 20 minutes,” the other one – Dorcas – cut in, her fingers flying across her phone screen before she slipped it into her back pocket.

 

“Dee, you can’t just end the argument when I’m distracted,” Marlene pouted.

 

“Sorry,” Dorcas replied smiling happily, not looking sorry at all, and pecked Marlene on the cheek, taking her by her wrist to lead her over to a sofa.

 

The other five sat too, Alice stretching herself over Frank and Remus when they ran out of chairs, and Severus ended up next to Lily – completely by accident of course. The eight of them sat and chatted happily about their weeks and random gossip, all of them trying including Severus in the conversation and coaxing him out of his shell. Remus was barley half way through his story about the meeting with James and Sirius before Alice cut him off.

 

“Oh my god, Remus Lupin, you totally have a crush on Sirius, don’t you? Don’t even try and deny it; I’ve known you since you were four, I know that look.”

 

“I do not,” Remus attempted to defend himself, even as he turned bright red, “And even if I did, there’s no way he would ever go out with me; he’s so out of my league. He’s all leather jackets and electric guitars, and I stay in reading books wearing my stupid reading glasses.”  
  
“He was wearing a leather jacket indoors?”  
  
“Well no, but he’s the sort of guy you just know has one somewhere. And he’s got at least one tattoo, I’m telling you Alice, there is no way he’d ever be interested in me.”

 

“Remus,” Lily cut in, “I’ve known Sirius a long time and if there’s one thing I know about it’s that he’s full of surprises. He may act all tough and cool but he brought the dog plushie his brother gave him before he left for school to uni and he still has a friendship bracelet Potter made him when they were fourteen. The guy’s a total nerd, who just so happens to have a thing for guys in glasses. All I’m saying is, you never know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> James and Sirius' halls are actually where my best mate stayed in first year, and someone actually did fall into their door and break off the handle, and then because of the locking mechanism on the fire door they just couldn't shut it for the rest of the year


	5. Chapter 5

(22:48) **Me and James’ve almost finished that last song – wanna meet in a couple days to hear it? Finish the project and that**

 

(22:49) _Sounds good – Friday?_

 

(22:49) **How’s 7 at mine?**

 

(22:50) _Great – see you there princess_

 

(22:51) **Looking forward to it fair maiden**

*********

Remus stood banging on the door of Peter’s flat. The buzzer was still broken and Peter hadn’t been answering his phone, so Remus had ended up having to call Alice to get into the building. Eventually a tall ginger haired boy answered the door – Gideon or Fabian, he could never tell them apart.

 

“Hey, I’ve been calling Peter for the last half hour, but he’s not answering his phone. Is he okay?”

 

“Depends on what you count as ‘alright’,” the Prewett twin answered, “On the one hand he finished the programing assignment he meant to start three weeks ago, on the other he’s not slept in about thirty-six hours. You can come see him but he’s been dead to the world for the last hour.”

 

Remus entered the boys’ flat – which was noticeably messier the Alice and Lily’s the floor above – and picked his way across the hall to Peter’s room. He knocked lightly on the door, and after a few moments of silence he let himself in.

 

The room had a dim orange glow from the floodlights outside. The room was strewn with messy clothes, every flat surface covered with dishes, empty energy drink cans and textbooks, presumably for the assignment. Amongst all the mess Peter lay face down on his bed, partially hidden by his duvet, breathing peacefully. Remus found a scrap of paper and wrote him a note, telling him he was going to meet Sirius and James in case he woke up soon, and left it on top of the boy’s phone, which he flicked onto silent. He made his way out the room and left, briefly sticking his head round the living room door to tell the other guys he was being on his way.

 

Remus quickly ran over to the James Young block, apologising for being so late as Sirius let him into the flat. Today he wore his hair down, leaving it to fall just below his shoulders, and his make up was fresher, obviously not left over from a previous party. He grinned happily at Remus before looking slightly confused at the missing person.

 

“Peter pulled an all-nighter yesterday, and he’s absolutely dead. I didn’t have the heart to wake him up,” Remus explained apologetically.

 

“That’s a better excuse than Jamie’s,” Sirius laughed, “Some of his friends went to watch the netball game, and he heard Evans’ is on the team. He scarpered about ten minutes ago.”  
  
The two stood awkwardly in the corridor for a while, unsure of what to do without their friends to create a comforting hubbub.

 

Sirius perked up. “Tell you what, it’s Friday night, and our friends have ditched us. How about you dump your laptop and stuff here and we head to the union. How d’you feel about pool?”

 

*****

 

The bar was noisy and filled with students playing pool, watching football and pre-drinking. Remus and Sirius managed to get one of the few remaining pool tables, shoved into the corner, just slightly to close to the wall to fit the cue in for tight shots. Sirius leant on his cue, watching as Remus ordered the balls in the rack.

 

“So, are you any good at pool?” Sirius asked as Remus rolled the triangle of pool balls across the table, flattening the green felt.

 

“Yeah, I’m alright – Alice always beats me and Frank though. You?”

 

“Not bad, I used to play with my brother when we were younger. How about we make this a bit more interesting then? I win and you buy my drinks for the evening,” Sirius challenged.

 

“Alright, and if I win you buy mine,” the two shook over the table.

 

Remus aligned the white a shot it into his perfect triangle of balls, causing them to ricochet across the pool table and a red to roll smoothly into a pocket, slowly followed by a second. Remus grinned innocently at Sirius’ agape expression.

 

“Did I not mention I’ve played pool every weekend since I was fifteen? Alice’s dad owns the local bar.”

 

“I’ve just been hustled, haven’t I?” Sirius asked, Remus just continuing to grin innocently at him, “Who’d have known you’re so mischievous under all those curls.” Sirius grinned ruefully as Remus ducked away, attempting to fix his now-ruffled hair.

 

They continued in a similar fashion, with easy banter and terrible music from the jukebox, and an hour and a half and quite a few drinks later their games were over and the bar was beginning to empty. Sirius slipped out his phone, which he had somehow managed to fit in the pocket of his skinny jeans, glancing at the time.

 

“Hey, it’s almost eleven, and we’ve barely talked about the music – d’you want to head back?”

 

The two boys left the union, cutting down past the chemistry building so they could walk by the river. Despite the cold of autumn a few colourful flowers had managed to survive, swaying slightly in the night breeze. They walked near each other, Sirius with his hands tucked in his back pockets and Remus with his hidden in the folds of his jumper, neither of them quite brushing shoulders.

 

“You said before you and your brother used to play pool together – d’you not anymore?” Remus asked curiously. Sirius shifted uncomfortably, moving his hands from his pockets to folded across his chest. “Oh god, is it a touchy subject? I shouldn’t have asked, I’m sorry,” Remus babbled.

 

“No, no, it’s fine, it’s just my family-” he cut himself off, seemingly searching for the right words, “Let’s just say we’re not that close anymore. But yeah, when I was younger my parents would always drag me and Reg to the country club every week. Everyone there were always stuck up twats so we’d sneak away and play pool until our parents stopped networking long enough to care we were missing. We’ve not seen each other in a long time now.”

 

“Wow, that- that really sucks. I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

  
  
“Not your fault, you didn’t know,” Sirius shrugged. “Anyway, enough of the miserableness, we’re almost at the flat, I’ll play you that new song we finished today.”

 

*****

 

Remus perched on the edge of Sirius’ bed, surveying the room. It looked as Sirius’ wardrobe had exploded, with clothes hung over the wardrobe door, the back of his chair, the bed and the floor. His desk was a mixture of open engineering books with unfinished homework on top of them, and bottles of nail varnish and makeup littered all the flat surfaces. One wall was covered with photos of Sirius with a younger James, Lily appearing in a few, and some with a boy that looked like a miniature Sirius who must be his younger brother.

 

Sirius produced a sheet of paper from the mess on the desk, covered in scribbles and guitar tabs and grabbed a beaten up acoustic guitar from the corner of his room. He strummed out a couple chords before launching into the song, his chipped red nail varnish glittering in the lamp light. Remus shut his eyes and leaned back against the wall, listening to Sirius’ soft voice.

_“When you open up your heart and your soul,_

_Take my love and never grow old, yeah,_

_Open up your heart and your soul,_

_Cause if you're looking for something to love,_

_You've gotta let me know”_

 

Remus opened his eyes as Sirius finished playing to find the guitar abandoned beside them and the boy a few inches from his face. Remus tilted his head up slightly and Sirius leant down, kissing him gently on the lips.

 

*****

 

Remus got back to his flat, still smiling goofily from the kiss. The flat was sat in almost complete darkness, apart from the chink of light spilling our from Severus’ open door. Remus walked over, leaning on his friend’s door frame. The room was even neater than Remus’, with the bed crisply made and all the text arranged by height on their shelf. Severus’ was sat at his desk wearing headphones, reading a thick book as he anxiously tapped his fingers on the wood.

 

Remus entered the room, tapping Severus lightly on the shoulder to get his attention. The boy jumped slightly, surprised at his presence, and slid his headphones off.

 

“Everything okay? You seem really stressed.”

 

“Yeah, it’s just-” Severus got up to shut the door, sitting on the bed opposite Remus, who was perched on the edge of the desk, watching him attentively. “I asked Lily out for coffee tomorrow, and I’ve just never really looked forward to coming out to new people, y’know? I’ve met a lot of people that don’t believe asexuality even exists see.”

 

Remus sat on the bed next to him, putting a reassuring arm around Severus’ shoulder. “I know I’ve not known Lily long, but she’s a good sort. We both know she won’t care. At least not in a bad way. And say in the tinniest amazingly unlikely off chance that she does, then she’s obviously not worth your time. Either way you’ll still have all of us.” He wrapped the boy up in a hug.

 

“Thanks Remus, you’re a great friend.”

 

*****

 

(00:32) _Btw when I said you’re buying my drinks I meant tomorrow when we go for coffee_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song lyrics are from Heart and Soul by Twin Atlantic


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is a fact of life that all Freshers spend first year drinking Aldi Cocobay rum with value lemonade until it gets to June and everyone unanimously agrees it's disgusting and never touches it again.

Remus stood in the hallway of his flat, fiddling with the cuffs of his red star-spangled shirt. They were meant to have met at the girls’ flat fifteen minutes ago, but Frank had fallen asleep, and had only just gotten out of the shower – five minutes his arse. Severus was leant against the wall with his eyes shut; Remus would have sworn he was asleep if he hadn’t grabbed his arm the moment he tried to poke him. After successfully coming out to Lily he had been a lot more relaxed around everyone, though after their talk the two had decided to just be friends, mostly because Lily was currently harbouring a crush for a certain keyboardist. Frank finally appeared from his room, having just flung a blazer over his jeans and tshirt, and the three left.

 

They were soon wandering up the stairs to the girls’ flat – which now had a working buzzer – and could already here voices spilling down the stairwell. Considering there were already eight people packed into the small flat, no one was really surprised at the noise.

 

Remus carefully pushed the door to the very full living room open. Dorcas and Sirius were stood on one of the sofas, having a very dramatic sword fight with a set of chopsticks from some leftover takeaway. Marlene was sat on the far side of the kitchen table, out of the line of fire, helping Emmeline attempt winged eyeliner because “she had seventeen years of experience to catch up on”. Peter was in the kitchen, helping Alice dig through cupboards in an attempt to find enough glasses for the ridiculous number of people in their flat. James was stood chatting in a corner with Lily, who was looking a lot happier in his presence than a few weeks previously.

 

Sirius noticed Remus enter, a smile lighting up his face, which quickly fell as Dorcas stabbed him with a chopstick, catching him off balance and knocking him off the sofa. He jumped up quickly, grin back in place.

 

“Remus,” Sirius grabbed him by the arm and pulled him over, kissing the side of his head, “Was beginning to think you’d gotten lost. The wait was definitely worth it though,” Sirius eyed hi up, “You’re looking especially dapper tonight.”

 

“Really, you’re going with dapper? Though I must say you’re looking quite fine yourself, I’m especially liking the eyeshadow. You’ll be the prettiest boy at the ceilidh.”

 

Dorcas appeared with three glasses expertly gripped in their hands. “We’ve been pre-ing for half an hour already, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do otherwise Marls’ll start getting everyone shots again.”  
  
Frank grimaced at the memory before downing half his drink, almost coughing it back up again. “Jesus Dee, what’s in this, paint stripper?”

 

“I’ll have you know that is Aldi’s finest own-brand Malibu and lemonade, thank you very much. If you don’t want it I’ll have it,” She made a grab for the glass.

 

Frank stretched his arm, holding the drink high above their reach, “Calm down there, I never said I wasn’t having the free alcohol mate,” he said, downing the rest of his drink.

 

Another half an hour later saw the group noisily making their way across campus to the Union. The eleven of them piled out of the lift once it reached the eighth floor and swarming towards the incredibly dark events hall.

 

“Well,” said Emmeline as the handed over their tickets, “I was going to make a joke about everyone watching me try to lead Peter for the next two hours, but we’re not going to be able to see shit. They’re really not into mood lighting, are they.”

 

As the night drew on they continually swapped partners, and at one point Severus even managed to gather the dutch courage to ask one of the netball girls to dance.

 

Eventually Remus and Lily ended up slow dancing together, while Sirius and James did an enthusiastic polka around the edge of the room, spinning each other occasionally.

 

“So how did that audio project actually end up?” Lily asked.

 

“To be honest everyone liked the music a lot more than our actual editing in the end. Not that I can blame them.”

 

The two stood swaying for a few moments, occasionally laughing at their ridiculous boyfriends as they passed by.

 

“I never did thank you for introducing us.

 

“If I’d known it would end this well I’d have done it a lot sooner, trust me. I glad it worked out though,” Lily smiled towards him. They both looked up as James dramatically spun Sirius again, sending him careening across the room towards them. Sirius span and span across the room until he tripped over his own feet, throwing himself onto Remus.

 

“Lucky you Remus, he’s literally falling for you,” Lily laughed.

 

Remus laughed as he helped Sirius pull himself up off the floor. “Lucky for him I fell for him along time ago.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I'm really terrible at endings, and this is cheesy as all hell, but it's better than no ending at all, right?
> 
> Also, I always really hate in stories when people are just explicitly like 'X is pansexual, Y is gender fluid' etc - it just seems like they're trying to shoe-horn in all the diversity at the start, and then they just write everyone as if they're straight, so I've been trying to hint at Emmeline being trans without just outright saying it, but I'm not sure how successful I've been??


End file.
